The purpose of these awards is to promote an awareness of earth sciences to the general public and to support young people and researchers in the pursuit of their studies and a career within Earth Science.
We do not support funding for salaries. We do support funding for necessary equipment and expenses.
Applications can be made by individuals or institutions. To be eligible for an award you or your organisation must be UK based. The following are a list of projects WGCG has historically supported.
Museums:
- Lapworth Museum – Birmingham University
- Warwick Museum – Warwick
- Etches Museum – Kimmeridge, Dorset
- Lyell notebook collection – University of Edinburgh
Participating Universities for Student Mapping Projects (Affiliated Organisations):
- Exeter – Camborne School of Mines
- University of Birmingham
- Keele University
Individual undergraduate students (from non participating universities) for summer geological projects.
Individual and university based research equipment funding.
Individual and university based outreach projects.
Earth Science Teachers and Organisations such as ESTA (Earth Science Teachers’ Association).
Educational activities, particularly work with schools and youth groups e.g. to support field visit expenses.
To apply for the Holloway Award please complete the form below.
Applications for an award will be considered at our monthly committee meetings in January and July each year.
Rob K. Holloway (1942-2010)
By Ian Fenwick. Published in the WGCG Newsletter, Spring 2012
Rob Holloway was one of our members who died in May 2010. Born in Mombasa, where his father worked for the East African Railways, Rob’s family soon moved back to England and settled in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. In the ‘60s Rob trained as a teacher and came to the Midlands to teach in Birmingham, firstly in Kitts Green and then in Erdington. He was one of those rare characters – a man who taught in a primary school. However, that provided him with an opportunity to provide a role model for many of his youngsters by conveying to them his enthusiasm for football. For many years he coached school teams and youth teams and ultimately became an FA qualified referee.
In parallel with his interest in football, he also developed a passion for photography, as witnessed by the vast number of photographs and astonishing range of dark-room equipment which survived him. This extended to stereoscopic photography which led him to become a member of the Stereoscopic Society. From photography developed a desire to produce electronic gadgetry to enhance the performance of his equipment.
Although he had shown interest in landforms and geomorphology while at college, it was really in his latter years that he developed a passion for geology. He soon joined field-based classes in Staffordshire but joined WGCG, despite the fact that he lived in Tamworth! Rob became a regular attender at our meetings and particularly relished the Group’s field trips. By the time of his last trip – to Watchet in September 2009 – he was already a sick man, but still raised the energy and enthusiasm to wax enthusiastically to me about the gypsum mineralisation in the cliffs to the west of the town.
Knowing little of Rob’s personal circumstances, for he was a very private person, it came as a huge shock to all concerned when he asked to meet up with a trio from the Group to discuss his will. He had, it transpired, been told that he might expect to live for up to a further 5 years. At this meeting, he insisted that he wished to leave the great bulk of his estate to the Group, especially to be used to encourage young geologists, to record our field excursions and to enable the Group to produce high quality interpretation panel materials.
In short, he sadly only lived for a further couple of months at which stage we discovered the extent of his magnanimity. Both his houses had to be sold and efforts made to ensure that his effects found their way to appreciative homes. When the estate was finally settled in January, it became clear that Rob had not only transformed the financial fortunes of the Group, but in the present economic climate, it has been truly providential.
None of us would, I think, have contemplated that a member would value the Group and its activities so much as to repay it with such generosity.
Source: https://www.wgcg.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/newsletter-2012S.pdf#page=4
Last Updated on 12 Jul 2025